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59 comments to Volume XXX Titles

Outlaw! Finally! My favorite episode ever! Plus, Season 1 is finally complete! And I don’t care what anyone says, Projected Man and It Lives By Night are two of my favorites from the SciFi era. Another great volume!

I wonder if the Projected Man will include an audio option for “original, echo-y version.” It’s pretty much established at this point that the idea of the premiere having technical issues was PR spin and that the poorly received mix was a deliberate, failed experiment, right?

Hard to believe that Season 1 ended up being the first to get all of its episodes an official release. Of course, several of those are out of print, and in 104’s case there were rights issues. Still, I wonder how plausible it would eventually be for Shout! to do a Complete First Season? I guess it will never happen since the market for it would be measly, but I do love the concept of it.

I’m assuming #104 and #106 were cited for being Rhino releases – their rights situation as pertains to Shout! is an open question. Also, #104 supposedly caused Volume 9 to go out of print due to a rights issue cropping up, so that particular episode could have extra complications.

But yes, with the next Shout! release, an official disc will exist/have existed for all thirteen Season 1 episodes, and that’s kind of remarkable.

Who would have thought the entire First Season would be the first to have all the episodes released ?
I can see that we must be running low on Joel since there is one episode this time around. I can see the Painted Hills on Volume 31 though

Outlaw of Gor is one of the those titles that heretofore seemed unobtainable so Shout! Factory comes to our rescue yet again. Fantastic! And it’s so nice to see Season 1 now fully released. Black Scorpion is a fun little Willis O’Brien monster flick.

I knew Black Scorpion would be one of the episodes. But nice! We got the entire first season on DVD now!

Outlaw is a great episode so I’m glad to see that one has the light of day. Projected Man and It Lives by Night I’ve actually never seen, but look forward to when the DVD comes out. Keep up the good work, Shout!

Is it just me or does anyone else find The Black Scorpion incredibly difficult to get through? Granted I have only ever seen it via YouTube but the picture quality was just so terrible I turned it off halfway through. The purple toned film is just very distracting and I don’t recall that the riffing was saving it enough to make me want to power through it. Everyone else seems excited about this one so maybe I need to give it another chance. Awesome about Outlaw though!

Amazing that Season 1 is completed first, especially after the Brains weren’t big on their being rebroadcast on Comedy Central because “they weren’t all that good.” It’s probably my least favorite season, barring the KTMA shows, but I’ll be glad to have all the eps.

NEW REVISED UPDATE March 2014. This is a list of MST films that have not yet received a DVD release. Excluded from the list are the KTMAs, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and the 4 titles announced for v.30. Next to the title is the current rights’ holder courtesy of Travis Hosey.

That means that on DVD, there are 19 Joel episodes lacking, and 27 Mike episodes still to be released. So, I expect we’ll see some 3-1 Mike packs coming. Four more, to be precise. Assuming they are able to release all the remaining episodes, of course.

Ooh… that’s pretty risky, to have the one Joel ep be a Season One show. Nevertheless, we all knew “The Black Scorpion” would be on this set, and since with it, the entire Season One oeuvre is complete, what the hell. Besides, that was arguably the big Season 1 episode for me because it’s one of the few episodes where I’d seen the movie before I saw the episode. The movie itself is two tons of fun, so the episode’s gotta be a riot, even for Season One.

That still leaves three more personal requests from me (418, 704, and 1012) up in the air. But oh well. We’ve still got a ways to go yet, and we’re all gonna enjoy the ride till we get there.

At last we have an entire season released on DVD (although two of them have since gone out of print). Black Scorpion was predictable and it’s just an okay episode, probably about mid-range as far as Season 1 goes.

Outlaw, I can’t say I’m that fond of. It has it’s moments but there’s long gaps with very little jokes in them that really get to me. It is one of many fan favorite episodes that I just don’t get the appeal of, although there are much worse examples. I think part of it might have to the do with the film genre. I’m just not that into these fantasy/sword and sandal/whatever-you-call-them movies. Like, I don’t really care for Cave Dwellers either. On the other hand, I think Deathstalker is a pretty good one, but that’s like the one exception.

The Projected Man, hoo boy. At least they’re getting it out the way now instead of later since it has to be one of my least favorite episodes, easily the worst with Mike. The jokes and the delivery of them (something that I feel the Mike era is usually much better at than the Joel years) are abysmal for the most part. The “Lembach is staying” running gag is truly just grasping at straws and is such a desperate attempt to find something odd or amusing about this dull movie. The host segment devoted to it is unwatchable as far as I’m concerned. Just pathetic. Probably among my 5 or so worst episodes.

It Lives by Night, on the contrary, is pretty darn good. It’s a bit laid back, with the occasional gut buster. A nice solid effort all around. There’s one particular riff that’s got to be one of my favorites. It’s really nice to see a new Season 10 episode again after so long (the excellent and underrated Blood Waters of Dr. Z came out, like, 4 years ago).

Well, we all knew Black Scorpion was coming, and I imagine Shout will rerelease the remaining two as singles in due time. Glad to see all of Josh’s episodes out and available now.

Outlaw – the only episode to win an award. Definitely one of the best. Been waiting a looonnnnnnng time for this one.

The Projected Man – I’m going to come right out and say it: this is one of my favorites. Not only does it get M&TB out of the sci-fi storyline, but the movie is watchable and the riffing goes neatly alongside it.

It Lives By Night – Can’t wait to see if this one is as dark and dismal as the VHS version I’ve been watching. Should be interesting.

Not trying to hijack the thread, because believe me I am very excited every time a new Volume gets announced. And, by the looks of everything that is still unreleased, we can probably look forward to at least 4 or 5 (reasonably) more Volumes. That would get us up to XXXV.

What I really am curious about though, is what about Out-Of-Print (Rhino) releases? It’s obvious that Shout! has been able to cut some deals for ‘digital’ only releases of some episodes. Something like 31 Out-Of-Print (Rhino) episodes are available for purchase from iTunes (and Amazon). About 12 of those have been released as Shout! Select titles. But what about the others? I mean, I know I can’t expect that Shout! will re-release all the Out-Of-Print but a percentage of them?

As of this writing, on Netflix, the following episodes are available to stream but cannot be purchased on DVD (from Shout!): THE PHANTOM PLANET, I ACCUSE MY PARENTS, POD PEOPLE. And on Amazon, the following episodes are available to stream but cannot be purchased on DVD (from Shout!): (the three above, plus) EEGAH, HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND, CAVE DWELLERS, INDESTRUCIBLE MAN, HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN, TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE, TORMENTED, SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON, MONSTER A-GO-GO, RING OF TERROR, HERCULES UNCHAINED, THE KILLER SHREWS, SWAMP DIAMONDS, STAR FIGHTERS, THE REBEL SET, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES.

I don’t expect Shout! to tip their hand on future plans but it would sure be nice if there was some indication given that they were going to continue releasing Shout! Selects or not. Believe me, I realize that a lot of fans already have all the boxes. At one time, I to had all of the Rhino boxes. Quite frankly though, even if I did have the Rhino boxes, I would still rebuy from Shout! because the attention to QC that they provide the show. Even a bare bones Shout! Select gets the intro/bumper and a stinger. With Rhino it was always a crap shoot on the latter and forget about the former.

Another curious fact was that on Turkey Day, SPACE MUTINY was streamed as one of the six episodes. I say curious because Shout! has never released that episode either on DVD or digitally. So one can hope that was a prelude to a physical release of the episode?

In summation; please Mr. Shout! Factory keep the new boxes rolling out but also, please don’t forget some of the Out-Of-Print classics!

I love Outlaw. One of my favorite Mike eps. I like It Lives By Night. Not a fan of the other two eps. This is probably the weakest set Shout has released yet but I’m very grateful for Outlaw and, in general, they’ve done a great job to this point.

now that done with season 1. I think they will start seeing the rest of season 10 episodes coming out on future volumes. just a hunch. I was surprised they got the rights for outlaw. I really don’t care what volume has what episodes on it. I want all episodes on dvd eventually.

The shocking number of public domain movies on that list of unreleased experiments is just shocking.

I can only presume that Shout! is rationing them a bit– if they don’t have any others ready, they could still do a 4-volume set (and stall for time), or what I assume is the case, using them to offset the costs involved with the rights-getting-of others.

We haven’t actually heard them talk about the tactics/strategy/logistics beyond “we need four eps, and we like to have a mix of early/late Joel/Mike; oh and also we need the rights”? I mean, yeah, Gamera (which was a 5-pack), but other than that, when have we had a real theme? (Most themes IMO would come up pretty forced, and I think the [apparently] random nature of the sets has its own kind of charm.)

We arent going to get the Season 3 Susan Hart titles or the Arkoff titles from Season 8 anytime soon if at all..we are getting close to that down to the wire but there are still some goodies they can be had. I just dont want a set of PD titles that arent fan favorites

That’s a good selection of titles for Volume XXX. Of the four, three will be new episodes for me, and my copy of Outlaw is a fan copy that could use an upgrade.

I’m very happy with the approach that Shout is taking with the DVD releases. I’m perfectly happy to have sets with an imbalance of Joel/Mike episodes, or with no particular “theme” to unite the episodes. It must be more difficult than most of us realize to track down the rights owners, to negotiate the licenses for DVD release, to arrange a package of different episodes that have all been licensed under different terms, etc. Anything that makes it possible for more shows to come out on DVD is fine with me!

I love this set. The last of the Josh Servo era, their Peabody award winning episode, a favorite (It lives by Night), and one I have never seen (Projected Man), I’m guessing this will be released in mid-July early-August, as that seems to be Shout Factory’s pattern. I wonder what the extras will be.

@#32
I totally agree, Shout should re-release what Rhino has.
I own all the Rhino box sets including both 10 and 10.2, I also own most of their VHS releases. I would re-buy every single one in it came with extras and mini posters.

By the way whats the deal with The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and Mitchell not getting mini posters?
I have all my mini posters arranged in order of when they aired, Not having the mini posters for those two episodes kinda messes the giant poster on my wall up. Ideally I want one for every episode made. I am resigned to the fact that I will only get them with the box sets, but why when the poster art has been done for the dvd has it not been giving a mini poster while Gorgo and the rest in the same box set have?

In case anyone was wondering if you make the giant poster out of your mini posters it currently measures out at 7 feet 11 inches long by 2 feet 5 inches wide

7′.11” X 2′.5”

five more box sets with four mini posters each would finish the current row and would start and finish the next row underneath completing the rectangle making it three feet wide by seven feet long.

I have to assume the Shout! Select titles stopped because their sales didn’t justify the overhead of pressing physical discs. I think Shout! should at least digitally offer all the Rhino titles they still have the rights to, and a gander at Amazon.com suggests that they’re pretty much doing that, although with SPACE MUTINY being part of the Turkey Day marathon I have to think they’re holding out a little bit, which I hope they correct. I’d certainly love to see MERLIN’S SHOP, HOBGOBLINS, OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK and TIME CHASERS available among other personal favorites that got put out during the Rhino era. Maybe they could work with Amazon to do on-demand disc pressing that you see Amazon do with certain cult titles. This would obviate the manufacturing cost of the Shout! Select strategy and let me buy SPACE MUTINY as an individual disc.

That said, we can’t assume anything Rhino once had the rights to is necessarily Shout!’s to sell as well, and in cases where they would have to renegotiate rights, it’s appropriate that they make securing new episodes a priority. To flirt with skeevy territory here, I boldly point out that if an episode ever got an official release, even if it’s now out of print, then at least a reference quality (I know this will be contested in a few Rhino cases where there were legit transfer defects, not to mention I find Rhino’s transfers were more pixelated and generally lower quality than Shout!’s) VOB file exists, and as such is “preserved” for hypothetical circulation until and if it gets replaced with a re-issue.

Still surprised there remains an issue with the Arkoff estate. I would be very surprised if the Susan Hart episodes ever see the light of day. But then, Shout! has worked miracles before.

Never expected to ever see Pumaman released, but what’s holding back the PD episodes?

And Corman owns the Deathstalker film directly? Not Lionsgate?

Amazing Colossal Man and its sequel have two separate owners. Weird. That’s what it is – weird…

But I am looking forward to Outlaw (Servo as Palance: “Day 15 – I … I think I killed a man? More later?”), and I haven’t seen The Projected Man since it aired on Skiffy (sorry, SciFi). So, we’re definitely getting this one…

The PD episodes are being saved when they have gotten through all the titles from studios I would say..or they might add one here and there to the mix of a set with titles from a studio.
Id say we will get down to one episode from Seasons 6 and 7 and 10 and two episodes from Season 5..
It looks like Season 4 has hit a wall.
Seasons 3 and 8 have 1-2 titles that can be had between the two.
I still dont know why Rocketship XM and Jungle Goddess havent come out yet

#52 Projected Man is a surprisingly weak episode, especially considering the great episodes that sandwich it. I like to believe, it being the premiere, that the Brains were still recovering from a particularly savage/debaucherous vacation or something. I’m really happy to have it though since it’s one of those transition episodes and it was previously supposed to be very unlikely for commercial release. I’ve also been meaning to give it another shot. It has its moments.

Plus: Lembach is staying! Yeah, put me down as one of the people who loves that joke.

Man! YET, another solid set from Shout!
Even though “Scorpion” rates kind of low with Msties, I’m still happy for its inclusion since the ENTIRE first season is now on DVD! Yay!
“Outlaw” is, of course, AWESOME!
“Projected Man” is okay.
“Lives by Night” is great for me, but not with the whole of the Mstie Community. Since I’m a tad imbibed right now, score one for ME!

Remember The Home Game where MSTies were invited to riff on The Day The World Ended? I would love
to see those as extras in a future box set. The riffs were great, my wife and I still use “without
my ass, life is meaningless” and “el burro es muerto” in conversations. I believe there were two
versions of this with different riffing on each one. How about it, Shout Factory?

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